Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	body_n	chapter_n	verse_n	1,809	5	9.7443	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59248	Sure-footing in Christianity, or Rational discourses on the rule of faith with short animadversions on Dr. Pierce's sermon : also on some passages in Mr. Whitby and M. Stillingfleet, which concern that rule / by J.S.	Sergeant, John, 1622-1707.	1665 (1665)	Wing S2595; ESTC R8569	122,763	264

which relie on Sensitive Knowledge and those are of Certain Authority if the sincerity of the Testator be unquestionable and the conveyance of his sincerelymeant Knowledge to us be Evident not otherwise 2 ly Note secondly that for the reason given Citations from Adversaries and Opinators signifie nothing also those whose words presumed to express the Witnessers sence are Ambiguous or otherwise-interpretable or else their very Letter Uncertain as all are if the way of Tradition be held fallible Thus much in common of Citations as in themselves Considering them next as made use of by D. Pierce we finde he relies on them as on his Principles to conclude against us or as he good man unfortunately calls it Demonstrate Hence 3 ly They must not be Negative for such can conclude nothing 4 ly They must not be false or evidently signifying another thing than they are produc't for nor impertinent for then they are in both cases quite besides the purpose 5 ly They must be express and home to the point for Principles must need nothing but themselves besides the Application to infer the Conclusion pretended to spring from them 9 ly They must be void of ambiguity For Principles must be either self-evident or at least made evident ere they can deserve to be produc't or admitted as such Lastly Principles are Sence not Sounds or Characters and so their Sence ought to be Indisputable 7. The first Note evacuates at once all his Citations from Authours that concern any point between us For he brings no Certainty of any knowledge exprest to be built on Sense that is no Citation against us which in proper speech deserves to be call'd a Testimony The second Note particularly invalidates those of the eighth and ninth sorth The third those of the fifth sort The fourth those of the first and seventh The fifth those of the five first sorts and also those of the seventh The sixth those of the second third and particularly the eighth The last Note enervates the tenth and indeed almost all the rest It being evident that our learned Controvertists give other Sences to those Citations than what Protestants assigne them and maintain still those sences to be better than theirs 8. In a word seeing all Testimonial Authority supposes Knowledge in the Authour and all Knowledge is either from Sense call'd Experience or else from evident connexion of Terms or Reason and that this later knowledge is apt to make a Master that is one fit to convince and teach another rationally by Intrinsecal Mediums or to cause Science in him and so is unfit for Testifying And the former kind of Knowledge onely is fit to be an Extrinsecal Medium or apt to beget Belief of the Witnesses word in regard any person unacquainted otherwise with the Truth of the Point knows by ordinary Experience and common reason that mens Understandings may err but their Sences rightly circumstanc't cannot it follows that no Citation in proper speech deserves the name nor has the force or virtue of a Testimony but those which are built on Sence or Experience This weigh'd reflecting on the main I find not one ●●●ress Testimony against any point of our ●aith engaging Sense that is not one which merits the name of a Testimony or to be esteem'd a part of Tradition That of S. Austin for communicating Infants has the true nature of a Testimony in it and deserv'd a more elaborate Answer had its Sence been unquestionable and the Words cited from the Father himself but the Sence of it being Disputable his Expositors explicating S. Austin by himself in another place no● to mean oral Manducation but virtual●●●ly ●●●ly which is done by Baptism and withall cited as a private Authours Sence concerning S. Austin it falls under the 6th and 8th Head of faulty or inconclusive Citations and so is already answer'd 9. This is the upshot of that famous Sermon And now I would gladly know what in the Judgment of an intelligent person who examins things by Grounds Dr. Pierce hath perform'd in this so highly extoll'd piece of his more than his dear Brother and fellow-champion against the Pope Mr. HENRY WHISTLER Onely he hath clad his little Nothings in some kind of mock-Rhetorick which like Fig-leaves cover after a pitiful manner the Nakedness of his empty Discourse Yet were even his Rhetorick examin'd by the substantial Rules of that Art I doubt it would come of as ill as his Proofs For 't is obvious to observe that the beginning of his Sermon is a-la-mode a School-boy's Theme and that his Style is far from even or spun on one thread Instead of the Thunder Lightning of strong and sententious Sence astonishing and moving the Auditors reason by the advantageous smartness and Majesty of the Expression he gives us a peal of Ordinance charg'd with ayr a volly of thunder-thumping bombast able to make a solid man's Reason nauseate and this most inartificially plac't at the very entrance of his Sermon § 2. Or else loud Pulpit-beating invectives and railings He makes huge account of little quirking Observations out of Human Authours which have no imaginable force or purpose but to make an ostentation of the uncouthness of his reading the Gallantry of his third paragraph For ingenious surprizes of Reason erecting and taking the Understanding we have wordish Quibbles Quirks and Paranomasias and those most evidently contrary to Art studiously and industriously affected His con●ident sayings without Proof make up half his Sermon and his Ironies and Sarcasms are the sauce to make all this windy meat go down 10. I will close with noting his excellent Faculty in quoting Scripture To do which when the place is worth looking as being brought to justify some passage we are about is grave and to some purpose but when no occasion or need invites upon the naming any two or three words which hap to be in Scripture to be still quoting and tricking the Margent with Book Chapter and Verse and relating Stars or little Letters is a very empty piece of Pageantrie and most sillily Pedantical Now our Dr. cannot talk of Faith but he must add though most unsutably to his Reformers in England to whom 't is most notorious no body deliver'd it which was once deliver'd to the Saints and Iude 3. shall ascertain it He cannot name the words which was from the beginning but the margent shall direct you to Mat. 19. 8. The two words Spending and being Spent oblige him to let you know where to find them 2 Cor. 12. 15. At the very naming Help and All sufficient two good honest words which might have been spoke whether Scripture had been or not he cannot for his heart hold but alledges you for it 1. Cor. 1. 27. And will needs though indeed very needlesly to us prove himself a weak Instrument by a plain Text 2 Cor. 10. 4. The obvious and common words condemn'd out of their mouths must have a Star of the First magnitude to light you